Close to $30 million in payouts to departing executives have helped deliver a healthy 5 per cent pay rise to the 300 highest-earning CEOs, who for the first time will receive an average pay packet of more than $3 million a year.

The average pay for those at the top of the corporate ladder is now more than 50 times the average Australian salary while the 5 per cent rise comes despite the ASX 200 closing up just 1.2 per cent higher for the financial year and as wage growth drops to its lowest level on record, according to The Australian Financial Review Salary Survey 2015.

The survey is the most comprehensive study of executive remuneration in the country and reveals that this year in particular, investors have paid a hefty price to say goodbye, as 31 of the top-paid 300 CEOs retired.

Golden handshakes acceptable sometimes

ANZ's Mike Smith, who earned $10.84 million in 2015, is set to retire at the end of the year.

Remuneration consultant John Egan, of Egan Associates, said golden handshakes were acceptable in certain circumstances.

"When it comes to payouts at the point of retirement, many boards will be generous in that they will enable securities to vest earlier than might be the case," Mr Egan said.

"If the executive concerned has contributed over a number of years to a successful company and the board and the chief executive agrees that now is the time to hand over the baton to someone else, that chief executive shouldn't be disadvantaged by not having the securities available to them.

"If you look at [Amcor's Mr] MacKenzie, his history of leading that company has been very positive and I don't think shareholders would be too critical," Mr Egan said. "I believe he has delivered value to shareholders."

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Mr MacKenzie's 10-year tenure as chief executive was the exception in Australia, where the average stint now sits at five years, and by the time he stepped down as head of Amcor in April, he had turned the company into a global packaging giant.

The chief of Macquarie Bank, Nicholas Moore, was the second-highest paid CEO this year, on $16.5 million, after receiving a $3.4 million pay rise this year.

No women in top 50

James Hardie's Louis Gries was this year's fourth-highest paid CEO on $15.26 million and News Corp's Robert Thomson was fifth-highest on $13.38 million.

The retirement of Gail Kelly, who was the seventh-highest paid CEO in last year's survey, means there are now no women in the top 50 paid chief executives, and only three in the top 100.

Mirvac boss Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz is now the best paid woman, with her salary of $3.77 million putting her at 72nd on the overall list of 300.

The total number of women in the top 300 list has increased from 11 last year to 15 in 2015.

Despite their small number, female CEOs out-performed the men in the top 300 when it came to delivering shareholder value.

When ranked by total shareholder return (TSR), women CEOs took out three of the top 10 positions while taking home pay packets that tended to be lower than their male peers.

TSR rankings

The TSR ranking of the top 300 CEOs, developed by Egan Associates, looked at total investment return for each security in the year to June 30, 2015, and found that big pay did not mean a big return.

Medical device maker ImpediMed ranked No 1 for total shareholder return after spiking in value last November when it announced it would receive higher than expected reimbursements from US public healthcare officials. The shares have jumped from about 20¢ in mid-2014 to peak at $1.25 this August before falling back to $1.02 a share on Wednesday. Despite this stellar performance, CEO Richard Carreon only earned $1.68 million in pay, making him the 162nd highest-paid CEO on the list.

No 2 on the list for best TSR was the head of 1-Page, Joanna Weidenmiller, whose pay of $955,641 makes her this year's 268th-highest paid CEO. Her firm completed a listing in October 2014 via a reverse takeover of former miner InterMet Resources and the shares have soared from 20¢ to peak at $5.69 in September and closed at $2.52 on Wednesday.

Other female leaders who delivered outstanding shareholder value included the chief of vitamins company Blackmores, Christine Holgate, who came in fourth on the list of best TSR, while earning $1.54 million to be the 176th-highest paid CEO.

The CEO of electronics and telecommunications retailer Vita Group, Maxine Horne ranked 6th for TSR for the year and took home $1.16 million to end up as the 234th-highest paid CEO.

Female CEOs increase incremental, not exponential

Mr Egan said that women who break into the top job have "proven to be superior to the average male CEO".

He expects the number of female CEOs to increase incrementally over time.

"I don't think society will enable it to increase exponentially," he said.

One of the few highly paid CEOs who also ranked high for TSR was Qantas CEO Alan Joyce whose airline ranked at 8th for best TSR. After successfully executing a turnaround for the airline, his salary jumped from $3.97 million to $6.7 million this year, making him the 33rd highest-paid CEO.

"[Mr] Joyce has hung in during a very difficult period, the board has endorsed his strategy and he's now got a significant benefit and so have the shareholders," Mr Egan said.

The healthy year for CEOs riled shareholders, particularly the small to mid-cap sector with "first strikes" against companies' remuneration reports – a protest vote of 25 per cent or more – rising from 93 last year to 101, including four top 100 companies – AusNet, Ansell, ALS and Downer EDI. Seventeen boards faced a spill after receiving a second strike and three companies – Globe Metals & Mining, Samson Oil & Gas and Castle Minerals – now facing a meeting on the re-election of their directors.

The protest votes have fuelled tensions between boards and proxy advisers – the consultants who recommend institutional investors which way to vote at the AGM – with veteran retailer Gerry Harvey branding the industry a "sore on corporate Australia" who are largely "unqualified".

Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted also hit out at proxy adviser Ownership Matters for "flawed" advice after it alleged the bank had discounted a $354 million write-down on software from cash earnings to trigger more than $10 million in bonus payments to top executives.